All Varsity Kansas Stories

Football 2014: Maize South Mavericks

Published August 20 at 4:40 p.m. | Last updated August 15 at 10:15 a.m.

When Brent Pfeifer took over the Maize South program, he made one thing certain for years to come. He would take his best athletes and put them on defense.

It’s a philosophy that has helped the Mavericks slowly build a contender. This season becomes more difficult with a bump up to Class 5A that includes sharing a district with powers Carroll and Maize.

“We think our defense can take us into the playoffs and it’s done that,” Pfeifer said. “We maintain that philosophy and that’s where our focus will be. We hope our defense is always going to be the strength of our program.”

Don’t expect that to change this season, as Maize South brings back six returning starters, including its entire linebacking corps featuring seniors Jeremiah Fettke, Logan Mormando, and Caleb Warner.

Coupled with the move of senior Lonnie Scifres, an all-league talent at running back last season, to defensive end, the defense is stacked to stop the run.

“There’s a pride here of playing defense,” Fettke said. “We are passionate about defense and we want to keep that tradition alive here at Maize South.”

Losing Scifres out of the backfield was a move made because the coaching staff felt like depth at the tailback position is a luxury.

Also, the return of Korie Frausto, an exciting prospect at quarterback, should kickstart an offense that just began to pick up new concepts that Pfeifer had implemented during the season.

An entire offseason of additional work has helped and Pfeifer is excited to see his formula can work, this time against Carroll and Maize.

“You look at Carroll and that’s one of the top programs in the state right now,” Pfeifer said. “When we started out in 4A, we looked around and it was Andale and Collegiate. Now we’re in Class 5A and we have to set our bar to a new level. We want to be at that level, too.”

A LOOK AT MAIZE SOUTH

Coach: Brent Pfeifer, sixth season, 27-21

League: AV-CTL Division II

Last season: 8-2, lost in first round of Class 4A playoffs

Last five seasons: 27-21

Projected 2014 playoff team? No

TOP SKILL PLAYERS

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Pos.

Yr.

Korie Frausto

6-0

175

QB

Jr.

Jeremiah Fettke

6-4

215

LB

Sr.

Logan Mormando

6-3

220

LB

Sr.

Kale Bulloch

5-10

175

DB

Sr.

TOP LINEMEN

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Pos.

Yr.

Lonnie Scifres

6-0

175

DE

Sr.

Evan Pierce

6-5

270

T

Sr.

Tucker Luce

6-1

230

G

Sr.

Brady Keller

6-3

270

G

Sr.

2013 RESULTS

Opponent

Score

Arkansas City

W,35-7

Eisenhower

L,3-0

Valley Center

W,34-10

Andover Central

W,21-7

Goddard

W,35-14

Collegiate

W,24-10

El Dorado

W,65-17

Hesston

W,14-6

Circle

W,48-0

Topeka Hayden

L,48-45

2014 SCHEDULE

Date

Opponent

Sept. 5

at Goddard

Sept. 12

at Holton

Sept. 19

Eisenhower

Sept. 26

at Andover Central

Oct. 3

Arkansas City

Oct. 10

at Coweta (Okla.)

Oct. 17

at Valley Center

Oct. 24

Carroll

Oct. 31

Maize

Jeremiah Fettke on his team

What Maize South does well: “We’re going to be a really good defensive team. We’re going to be constantly fighting and we’re all really close. There’s so much heart on this team. That’s the thing that sticks out in my mind, just how much heart we have.”

What has to improve: “We have to focus, all of us together, on our goal. We can’t worry about our other opponents or what other people are doing. We just have to focus on ourselves and stay on track.”